Friday, April 17, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Damaged In-Law by Colleen Masters


~Synopsis~
After high school I left my family and the world I grew up in, vowing never to return to such a screwed up place…but I also left behind him…

Jackson Cole—he was my childhood crush, the most popular guy in school, and the heir to a billion dollar estate. He also happens to be a devilishly handsome movie star, a cocky, chauvinist prick…and my identical twin sister’s fiancé.

When I get the devastating call that my sister Avery has died suddenly from a drug overdose, I have to go back home and face the people who’ve caused me so much pain—my parents, neighbors, family friends…Jackson.

When I see him again it’s like no time has passed. It’s sickening to think that after all these years, after all that’s happened, he still has so much power over me. I try to deny my feelings, to tell myself that I hate him…after all, what kind of monster crushes on her sister’s fiancé?

Then he lays a bombshell on me: He and Avery were in the middle of filming a new movie, his magnum opus, and he wants me to pick up where she left off.

The role comes with a million-dollar salary. I’ll play his co-lead, his romantic love interest…sex scenes and all.

But Jackson leaves out one little detail…

…Filming starts this week. 

~Book Review~
4.25 Stars

Callie Benson has known now movie star Jackson Cole most of her life, long before he became a celebrity. They share a common background and a common interest in her twin sister, Avery. Estranged for several years, Callie and Jack are reunited under the circumstances of Avery’s tragic death.

The premise was original, and I liked both Callie and Jack as characters. Callie is independent, down-to-earth, and able to stand on her own two feet. It was nice to see a heroine presented with brains and integrity. She also didn’t weep or fall apart when the going got tough. Told from Callie’s point of view, readers get a little better feel for her character over Jack’s, but he’s still presented as a likeable romantic hero, and it was refreshing that Jack, thought hinted at being a ladies man, didn’t fall into the stereotypical celebrity man-whore role.

For the first two-thirds of the book, the background of the characters is divulged while their current relationship builds. There is no insta-love or insta-lust with Callie and Jack; these two have a history. Then as the book nears its climax, the drama really explodes. It’s not angsty or overdone though, which is always a plus, but it’s full of excitement that ends on a high note.

The “forbidden” aspect of their relationship is really more a perception than reality. To me, their feelings for each other never felt taboo. But the “forbidden” part does serve up a page-turning quality as part of the climax that I enjoyed reading as it unfolded. 

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